4 Things You Never Knew About Your Menstrual Cycle

I love teaching women about the Fertility Awareness Method, and the most common reaction that I get from the women I work with, and the women who discover my podcast is “why didn’t we learn all of this in junior high school?” quickly followed by “every woman needs to know this stuff!”

I’m sure you can relate to my experience as a teenager getting it drilled into my head that you can get pregnant at any time in your cycle; there are no “safe days”. The pill was hailed as the savoir and presented as the only reliable option to prevent pregnancy. Every day I feel so fortunate that I learned how my menstrual cycle works, and it’s soooo very different to what I was taught as a teenager.

Now I’m sharing this amazing and life changing information with you. So here goes! The 4 things you never knew about your menstrual cycle:

1. You can only get pregnant on 5-6 days of your cycle

You’re not fertile all the time! You can’t get pregnant on every single day of your cycle. Yes it’s actually true, and it’s backed up by scientific research.

Learning this small piece of information profoundly changed how I looked at my menstrual cycle. During those few days in your cycle when you can actually get pregnant, otherwise known as your fertile window, your cervix gets softer, opens slightly, and starts making cervical mucus. Cervical mucus can be white and sticky like creamy hand lotion, clear and stretchy like raw egg whites, or wet and slippery (you’d notice this after you go to the bathroom when you wipe yourself). In the simplest terms, when you see mucus you’re fertile.

Cervical mucus is amazing and it does a whole lot of cool stuff:

Cervical mucus creates the perfect environment for sperm. It’s the right pH, it nourishes them, and gives them energy

Sperm can live in cervical mucus for up to 5 days

Cervical mucus filters out bad sperm and prevents them from getting close to the egg

Cervical mucus has channels that guide sperm on their journey to the fallopian tubes

All this is to say that without mucus you can’t get pregnant. Sperm need mucus to survive. You can only get pregnant on the days you have mucus, and in a healthy cycle those are the 5-6 days before you ovulate.

2. When you don’t have mucus your vagina and cervix work together to kill sperm for fun

Your vagina is a terrible place for sperm to live most of the time. On the days of your cycle when you have no mucus your vagina is acidic and sperm just can’t handle it. Sperm are pretty fragile and can only survive in an alkaline environment. When you don’t have any cervical mucus, sperm die within a few minutes. On your “dry days,” or days without mucus, your body actively kills sperm and prevents pregnancy in a number of ways:

Your cervix closes up shop and this prevents sperm from swimming though your cervix and into your uterus (you can actually feel the difference!)

Your cervix forms a thick mucus plug that blocks the entrance to your uterus. This prevents sperm (or anything else) from getting anywhere near your uterus, or your fallopian tubes. The poor sperm don’t even get the chance to fertilize anything!

Your mucus plug creates a physical barrier that sperm can’t swim through. Picture what it would be like to walk through a volleyball net. Yeah, not gonna happen!

Your vagina is naturally acidic so sperm can’t survive for more than a few minutes

When you don’t have mucus you’re not in your fertile window, and that means your hormone levels are too low to trigger ovulation. You can’t get pregnant if there is no egg to fertilize….

Yes I didn’t misspeak. You only ovulate on one day of your menstrual cycle. You can release more than one egg on that day, but after you ovulate your ovary starts pumping out progesterone and that shuts down ovulation for the rest of your cycle.

For the rest of your cycle you won’t ovulate again because progesterone prevents that from happening

In about 12-14 days you’ll get your period if you’re not pregnant!

Ovulation isn’t some random event that can happen on any day of your cycle. You, my friend, are not a rabbit, so you don’t ovulate when you’re turned on. Ovulation happens as a result of a complicated series of hormonal events. You can’t ovulate on Monday and then again on Friday. After you ovulate the show’s over. The band packs up and doesn’t come back again until your next cycle.

4. When your cycle is shorter or longer it is means you either ovulated earlier or later in your cycle

If you’ve ever wondered why your periods is “late” and you are 100% certain that you’re not pregnant, it’s because of variations in the first half of your cycle.

There are so many factors that can affect your cycle, but the most common effect you’ll typically see is delayed ovulation. This is one of the reasons fertility awareness is so awesome because it can help you understand what’s going on. It can also help you predict when you’re period will come.

Below are a few reasons why your cycle could vary in length from 26 days one cycle to 33 days the next (for example):

Once you ovulate your period typically comes within about 12-14 days on average when you’re not pregnant, and this means that when your cycles are “irregular” it is because of changes that happen in your cycle before you ovulate.

With that being said, don’t worry if your cycles aren’t always 28 days. That is one of the biggest myths about what a “normal” cycle is supposed to look like. A normal cycle ranges between 24 and 35 days in length with an average of about 28 days, so if your cycles are usually about 32 days long that might just be what’s normal for you. It’s also normal for your cycles to range in length by a few days from month to month.

If one month your cycle is 27 days and the next month it’s 30 days, you don’t have irregular cycles! You’re not a machine, so you can’t expect your body to operate like one.

Now I want to hear from you! Did anything in this list surprise you? Why do you think we weren’t taught these things in junior high school sex ed class? Join the conversation in the comments below!

My name is Juliet, I had my first baby 2016, I had an ovarian cyst surgery on 4th of march 2017, my husband and I have been TTC since after my surgery. I have been having irregular periods since after my surgery. Please as I speak to you now my period started 6th of October, am still on it, last month my period started 3rd of September. When will be my fertile days and what could be the reason for delay. Can I take any pills to boost ovulation.

Thank You so much for your brillant article. For the past 20months we have tried to have a kid to no avail. I have not been having any fertile mucus since 8yrs today, I am 24yrs old. After eating a lots of fruits and balance diets (precribed), I experienced the fertile mucus yesterday (slippery, strectchy and semi transparent), but my calenda calculations show that my fertile days is still about 6days from now. my BBT also shows that there is no ovulation. My cyle is constant 28days. How reliable is the BBT and compared to Fertile mucus? Which is more reliable?

Hi, do you think its possible to get pregnant by precum? I preformed oral sex on my boyfriend 5 days after my period, he ejaculated dried himself and then he we took a nap, after the nap we started grinding and his tip was on my folds and it kept brushing it. i dont know if he pre ejaculated or not but if he did im worried that it will find its way inside me. brown discharge was coming out of me that day and im assuming it was old blood was leaving my body. Do you think i can still get pregnant?

Hello , I want to thank you so much for your advice. The impact is huge. For two years my wife and I had been struggling for a child to no avail. We met all the best specialist in our country that we could find. All of them had the same conclusion “you guys have no problem, go have have sex as many times as possible”. Luckily I fell on your website and due to your advice on the importance of observing fertile mucus my wife understood she had no fertile mucus. We then forgot about the doctors and met a vegetarian who prescribed the eating of some vegetables. After just two months and fertile mucus came appeared and she is 5 months pregnant now. I have never understood why the medics don’t insist talk or even know about it. ONE WORD FOR YOU THANK YOU. MY WIFE BELIEVES YOU SAFED HER MARRIAGE. GOD BLESS YOU

Sounds like you are in your fertile window. The only way to figure out what is going on in your cycle is to start charting your cycles, and then you’ll know when you are in your fertile window, when your period is going to come, and you’ll be able to identify if there are any problems with your cycle.

I experienced the egg white and about 6 days later, I noticed soreness in both breasts: just at the nipples only. I read a little, and I got to know that it was a sign of estrogen dominance. Does it mean I did not ovulate?

Hi there. That is an indication of a problem. I would suggest for you to seek support from a functional practitioner and have your hormone levels checked. You may also want to see an endocrinologist. This isn’t something to wait on. It is urgent. 24 is much too late to have never had a period. Consider it serious and urgent.

ever since I gave birth 10 months ago,I’ve been seeing more mucus than ever.I was late to go for my prevention by 8 days(nuristrate).my breasts r sore..i feel pregnant n I’m not ready to add another member.scared to go for pregnancy test

I have a 23-24 day cycle. I have 2 boys and we’ve decided to try for a girl. I’ve been charting and doing ovulation tests so that we could plan a girl (having sex 4-5 days before ovulation) but my ovulation tests are always getting results for high fertility – every single day. Could this even be right? I know I have a short cycle, but that’s a lot! I’ve been told to look at ovulation being around 9 days after my period starts, does that sound feasible?

Thanks for this information .. but one thing I want to know , what if the woman has irregular period or menstruation , e.g. my friend Mary had the longest duration of her period (sorry for my English) the lasts for about 6 months , she really expects that she’s pregnant But she’s not. how long does the Egg cell can live inside in this case (6 months long). Any reply is deeply appreciated.

Hi Nelly, that is not an easy question to answer. First you need to establish if you are checking for mucus accurately. If so you’d need to be able to identify the underlying reason for this. It could be related to hormones, gut health, endocrine health, stress, hormonal contraceptive use, and the list goes on. You may wish to work with a trained fertility awareness educator for support in this area.

Hi am betsy, i carried my pregnancy up to the last ninth month,On 21/11/2016 i was in normal labor and went to the hospital for normal delivery they checked heart of the baby it was normal . During the delivery i got the baby is dead and i really bleed a lot of blood i was help by the doctor to stop the bleeding. After i bleed for that all month. It then stopped. I have unprotected sex because i have n’t seen my periods. Recently i spotted a bright period skipping in hours end on 24/02/2017. Now how do i count my menstruation circle and what i spotted was that the normal periods or up normal or because of what happen to me in still birth?? please reply me.
Regards

Hi Betsy, I am so sorry for your loss. My heart breaks for you. I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been for you. It’s hard to know ahead of time when your periods will return normally, but you might find this podcast episode to be helpful: http://fertilityfriday.com/molly-dutton-kenny/

Hi, I’m 17 and last 31st of March me and my boyfriend had dry humping. And also, he placed his organ on mine but not really put inside and after that I’m one week late my period is supposed to be on the first week of April. And now Im having a vaginal discharge which is brown and red with clear discharge I dont know if Im already on my period because it will dry up a minute later or it is a sign of early pregnancy, please help.

Thank you for this website, i have learnt a lot the few days I’ve gone through it. So here is the issue, hubby and i have been ttc for the past year and a half. I had the implanon on for about a year and a half then got it removed (so its been about a year and a half since i removed it). How do i know if my period is truly back like i am ovulating and its not just my body still reacting to the implanon hormones, is there a way to check this? And what color will my cervical mucus be when i am ovulating, is it the clear stretchy type or the like white lotion texture type?

Hi Tara! Thank you 🙂 You can check if you’re ovulating by charting your temperatures and mucus. A sustained thermal shift confirms ovulation. You’ll want to check out this podcast episode for detailed information about how to tell if you’re ovulating (cervical mucus observations) http://fertilityfriday.com/20/

It’s hard to say without having more information of seeing your chart. It could be that you’re not ovulating, it could be that you’re not experiencing peak mucus. You may want to listen to this podcast episode for more information about mucus 🙂 http://fertilityfriday.com/20/

Your article is helpful, I have PCOS and have been TTC for 3 years, I have been on primolut to help regulate my periods, Metformin and hyponidd for my sugars and insulin but i still can ovulate. Now i am going for ovulation booster drugs.

I have a question I am 45years old I skip a month then after 20 days I came on my period…my cervix is very high can almost not touch it….I don’t bleed very much since I was a girl when my period started…I am always 3days and I now I do ovulate please could you give me advise on it…we are trying now a year to get pregnant Dr test my thyroids liver glands Al the necessary test my hormones are also fine

My suggestion is to find a functional practitioner who specializes in fertility who can support you through this. You can also chart your menstrual cycles with a trained educator and that will help you identify any cycle irregularities that could negatively impact your fertility.

Sooo.. to be completely clear and understanding, you’re telling me, if I were to have sex any time of the day when I’m not in my fertile window I can’t get pregnant? Even if I were not to use a condom? Is this 100% of the time or could I still possibly get pregnant? It seems hard to believe!

Yes you are correct. To get the 99.6% effectiveness of the method you have to learn with a teacher, but yes. Your body kills sperm unless you’re in your fertile window. Outside of that window you can’t get pregnant. It’s impossible. If you can accurately pinpoint your fertile days you can have 100% unprotected sex with no condom (ejaculation inside) and not get pregnant. It’s really a thing ?

I have mild PCOS and I have had 2 miscarriages already and feeling hopeless. Both pregnancies were almost into second trimester. I have been to doctor after doctor which they tell me the same thing. They can’t find anything wrong and just try again. Its not that easy.. I dont know what to do. Im tired of hearing people say Im still young ( Im 23 and married) when they dont know my life situations. I use OPK’s but they give off false readings and hard to interpret whats positive and whats not. Do you have any advice for me? I really want to have a family . I feeling depressed and want to give up. .

I have a question mam. I’m not noticing any sticky, cremy, watery mucus that’s why I don’t know my ovulation. But, I have a sticky, paste-like CM and that meansafter a few days I’m gonna start my period. How will I know if I’m ovulating?

I have a question. I’m 32 and for the last 6 months my periods have been so light i bearly need a panty liner for only 2/3 days. Should i be worried or just happy my periods are not giving me grief!! I’m on the pill and am not pregnant. Thanks.

Hi Cat, when you’re on the pill you’re not actually having a period. What you’re experiencing is a withdrawal bleed. What that means is that you can’t gauge the health of your periods while you’re on the pill. You’d have to wait until you eventually come off the pill to have a sense of what your real periods are like.

Hi! Thanks for the clarification about ur blog. I’m having troubles with my menstrual schedule. Today’s my 43day and I’m expecting to have my periods at 33day but now I don’t have that white discharge and I’m also dry like no discharge when I look at my undies, I kinda feel that my lower back is aching, my nipples are kinda ichy. I’m positively not pregnant. I’m only 21yrs old, is there any chances that I won’t be pregnant if I’m on my 43day or so? Coz I don’t have symptoms of pregnancy.

Since i was 35 i had an irregular mens like sometimes it will take 2 months or longer is 5 months before i had next, I’ve had some of the reasons given above as to why, I am trying to avoid those little by little, aside from knowing the cycle which hard to know because cycle differs from month to month, Is there any food medication involves that needs to produce this mucus? and lastly what percentage for a woman to get pregnant at age 39 turning 40? Thanks in advance.

Hi, I am 29. I used to experience cervical mucus until last year, however, from last few months, there has been no discharge at all. My periods are regular, however, lasts for only 2 days. I am worried as I am in the age of getting married and have kids. Please advise if there is a problem in regards with fertility. I can not take chances. Your guidance will be appreciated.

My previous cycle lasted 24days… I had unprotected sex on the 19th day of this current cycle, today is the 26th day of this cycle but I have not yet seen my periods. My breasts ate heavy, have a scrambling stomach and very little thick cream CM, Could I be pregnant?

My period come on July 9-13. My app says I ovulate on the 29 of June. My other app says June 23. We always use condoms. This will be my third time doing this. We are knew to being active. What days do I ovulate, a bit lost

my LMP was on the 18-21 of last month I had sex with a guy a week later after my menstral cycle I’m supposed to mensual of the 17th of this month but my menstral cycle came earlier so instead of 17 it came on the 14th of this month n i also have a slight pain beneath my abdomen does it means it’s also a sign of pregnancy

hi thanx fir this,I lastly had a 31days cycle tho on the average i have 28days. but since this year it has varied so much between 25days to 31days. my last oeriid was in sept 20,but tiday being sept 29 i can see watery like eggwhite,I do nit know if exactly i am ovulating,am just a little bit confused. on sept 26(sticky),sept27(sticky), and so on till today. Based on calculated am not ovulating but based on body sign i see watery EW so please can you guide me on this one?I am very confused. Thank you

Thank you so much for these article…I have irregular period but just last month I had 28 day cycle my period started on the 6th and ends on the 10th but I noticed some whites odourless moist not raw like ovalation coming often from my private part on 11th until 13…Please I don’t know what it means…am 34yrs and I’ve never missed my period before.

i ve been trying to conceive for more than 2 years but could not and i have been taking fertility treatment though to no avail but i observe that i have some white discharge but no clear white or stretchy one but later observe this month that there is some drawing mucus mixed with my menstrual blood. does it mean that i ovulate during my period? please need a reply.

I have started to monitor my CM as per info I have learnt from your podcasts from a month ago, it’s my 2nd month (which are awesome, I love your fertility Friday sessions!!)
Today I noticed my CM plug dropped out, distinctively different to my standard CM. Does this mean I’ve ovulated and I’m no longer fertile. I get confused about the CM plug and fertility. Any insight is greatly appreciated xx

i am 45 years old right now. I had my 5th baby last 2010 since then my menstruation came every 23rd day from my last menstruation. April 2012 I had my menstruation 2 times. It happened again this August 2017. I went to a OB Gyn for check-up. I had my trans-vagina which the result is normal. I also got my pap smear, but unfortunately up to now I haven’t got the result. And this October 2017 I had my menstruation twice. After my regular menstruation, 16 days passed my next menstruation came. it last for 3 days. then after 13 days i had my menstruation again which lasts 5 days then after 11 days i have it again. What does it mean? Is this still normal? What should I do?

Hi Lisa, Thank you for writing this article. This provided me some knowledge about ovulation.
I am 27years planning to have a baby, Before marriage my period cycle range was 28days cycle. After marriage now it’s 3years my cycle range has become 33-37 days sometimes till 45. I did check up and tests everything is normal even thyroid. Now I am getting worried how I an become pregnant how I can note my ovulation time.

Hi,i have been trying to get pregnant over a year now but it’s not positive but the issue is, am having an irregular period which is hard to indicate my ovulation period,like i had my period on April 11th and the next came on 30th of September, i was even thinking i was pregnant only to be disappointed, and again am nt sure am ovulating, i have taking drugs to induce ovulation but yet it didn’t work out, i met a gynecologist who said it’s pecos i also used ovulation test kit and it was negative, then i get Virginia discharge each time but it’s nt that much,i have observed it and its nt drawing, which means i don’t ovulate,am really really depressed and desperate, i really need help, i want to get pregnant, please assist me.thanks

Hi I have read all the posts and responses here found them quite interesting and educational I myself have a complicated situation as to the female anatomy for the past few years I had irregular periods from time to time and it resulted in numerous undetected pregnancies which ended in early miscarriages and for the past four years I got my cycle under control without the help of medicine and doctors just by learning to understand the signs and signals from my body which can be quite fascinating in keeping with the records I would have a 29 to 33 days cycle according to the time I have intercourse before the next cycle begin and when the last cycle ends. Saying that I can put a clock to my cycle cause it comes the very time of the day I’m expecting it so for the past few months starting July 2017 we decided to try to get pregnant got a positive test result in August 2017 10 days after expected period then on the 11th day began bleeding when repeated test was done it showed negative so I accepted that in September 2017 history repeated itself so this time I didn’t check to know if I’m pregnant or not cause I didn’t want to get disappointed then eventually I began bleeding heavily passing some strange sizes of clots knowing that I have fibroids I hoped that was the cause. Again in October 2017 I got what I think was a normal period on the 13th to be exact and it ended on the 18th had intercourse on the 21st 22nd 24th 28th 29th but on the 28th early morning I saw clear stretchy mucus with tinge of blood mixed pass while showering and nothing after that until the 30th again this time it had light spotting throughout the day then stopped all entirely had intercourse again November 2017 on the 11th and 12th and I just started bleeding heavily passing some clots on the 13th and it stopped and started again on the 14th and still flowing today I’m scheduled for a cardiac CT scan this morning any one experienced anything like this please share would keep you informed of the developments of my case. I’m 35yrs no kids. Thanks for sharing

I am 22 years of age and not trying to get pregnant. I am on ordette contraceptive and last month my period was 4 days early which means it lasted for 24days and this month i am on day 32 since my last period and 3 negative pregnacy test.

And early this year i missed my periods for almost 2 months and still not pregnant so the dr that i go to, told me its the pills..

i was a bit nervous, but i had a huge amount of the mucus than i would normally see this time, so i was nervous, i do feel the cramps though because i have a cyst on my ovary, i really do appreciate this it has put my mind at ease, thank you so much

I had regular cycle for the past 2yrs which was 26days, so December 1st I had another period but during DAT I was using vitex and maca, now I saw brown blood tonight I don’t what’s happening.
NB: my next period supposed to be on 26of December.

I am trying for conceiving but i have irregular periods in every month length duration change suppose in august length is 45 days and in sep the length is 39 days and in oct the length is 42 days i m so confused what is the day of ovulations i donot cnfrm my periods come on which date next month i m worried

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